Posts Tagged ‘community’

Looking for creative ways to engage and retain your workforce? Invest some time and resources into planning an employee appreciation event. Whether it’s a family carnival or an ice cream social, the effort you make in putting these activities together will show your team members that their contributions make a difference for the company. Small acts like planning these events have the power to increase morale and job satisfaction, especially when raises and bonuses are not financially feasible. Below are a few of the benefits you’ll gain from hosting an event to celebrate your employees:

Shows Your Loyalty

Activities like these show your team members that your organization appreciates the work that they do. The time and energy you spend making your staff members feel like valued employees will make them more likely to show loyalty to your organization.

Levels the Playing Field

Employee appreciation events allow managers and their direct reports to interact with each other in a less formal setting. These events often show both groups that they are more alike than they thought. Learning each others’ similarities helps unite teams.

Blends Work Life with Home Life

Events that invite employees and their families to enjoy themselves demonstrate that as an employer, you care about their life inside and outside of work. Employees depend on and value the support they receive at home, especially if they are working longer hours or dealing with more tasks. Treating your team members’ families is a great way to get to know them better and say thank you for their service.

Strengthens the Workplace Community

Employee appreciation activities are great for team building. When employers dedicate time and resources to these events, employees can see that their company values them. Hosting staff parties and other events that support your workforce will unite your team and strengthen your organization’s culture.

For more ideas on recognizing your employees, please call a member of CAI’s Advice and Counsel Team at 919-878-9222 or 336-668-7746.

As 2010 is heading toward a close, now is a good time to review the year’s top books addressing human resources management and related concerns. According to Amazon, the following are the most popular ones to come out this year:

This came out in 2007, but as it is now available free for a limited time via Kindle (956 KB), it has topped the Amazon list and is worth your consideration in case you have not read it previously. It offers more than 150 tips on how to hire great people (and how to avoid those that are not), get the best from them as employees, and lead them to success. A Kirkus Reports review says it offers “Sharp, necessary words for both employers and prospective employees.”

Tools such as graphic recording and visual planning are in place in Silicon Valley to engage and energize participants in group meetings. These creative resources can facilitate excellence both face-to-face and in virtual group work among all employees when properly used.

Do not let the off-color title dissuade you from this still-popular 2007 book, based on a much-discussed Harvard Business Review article that assessed the impact of jerks and bullies in the workplace. “This meticulously researched book” (in the words of Publishers Weekly) includes advice on how to cope with these people and ways an organization can measure the actual cost to their bottom lines of individuals with consistently poor conduct, which could generate into benefits for everyone in response.

The wellbeing elements divide into career, social, financial, physical and community. The authors argue that focusing on any of these elements in isolation may drive us to frustration and even a sense of failure. Seeing them from a holistic view, the authors believe it can improve not only the reader’s wellbeing, but that of work colleagues as well.

The needs referenced in the title are ones that the authors say are essential in retaining employees and keeping them committed to organizations. Their proposed solutions recommend employers embrace humans’ need for both effort and renewal.

Who We Are

CAI is a non-profit member based organization. We help more than 1,000 North Carolina member companies maximize employee engagement and minimize employer liability. We serve the greater Research Triangle, Piedmont, Triad and 65 central and eastern counties of North Carolina.